There's no question the current economic situation had an impact on the 8th Annual National Pavement Expo West event, held Nov. 20-22 in Las Vegas, but that didn't dent the enthusiasm of the contractors who attended.
NPE West Show Manager Loretta Miles said trade shows in just about every industry are feeling the economic heat, and NPE West was no different.
"This is a rough economy to ask people to drive or fly to spend money, even if it is to help them improve their business," Miles said. "But despite all that, word of mouth from the conference program and even the exhibit floor was very positive, and we're looking forward to NPE 2009 in Charlotte and being back in Las Vegas again in December 2009."
"Our seminar attendance was down but that didn't affect the overall quality of our program," says Allan Heydorn, Conference Coordinator for NPE West. "According to seminar evaluations 95% of the contractors said the seminars fulfilled their expectations, and that's a number that's been consistent over the years, and it's a level of success we're very proud of."
